A Home for Someone

We own this sturdy little brick ranch. Its been a rental now for the past several years. About a year ago, we decided to try to sell it the next time it became vacant. That happened at the end of this past June and we listed the house despite the poor housing market, praying that God would have His way in using it as a blessing to another family as well as to us through that sale. Well, that wasn't God's plan. We just signed a lease with a likable young couple who will move in on November 1st. They are only a little bit older than our daughter, Emily, and have no family in this area. Andy and I find ourselves desirous of reaching out to them in friendship with the intent to make that house and Crystal Lake a true home for them. As much as any earthly home can be, anyway. We credit God with putting that desire to befriend these two in our hearts and are prayerful that He will enable us and give us the opportunities to do just that.

Happy the Home When God is There

Here's another hymn on the theme of home. I love the sweet manner of expression it has regarding the joys of a Christian home.

Happy the home when God is there,
And love fills every breast;
When one their wish, and one their prayer,
And one their heav’nly rest.

Happy the home where Jesus’ Name
Is sweet to every ear;
Where children early speak His fame,
And parents hold Him dear.

Happy the home where prayer is heard,
And praise each day does rise;
Where parents love the sacred Word
And all its wisdom prize.

Lord, let us in our homes agree
This blessèd peace to gain;
Unite our hearts in love to Thee,
And love to all will reign.

Henry Ware, Jr., 1846

Tune: St. Agnes, John B. Dykes, 1866

For more home-themed posts visit Rebecca Writes.

Coming Home

Approximately 17 years ago, I had the unique opportunity to visit Korea with a Korean friend of mine who was going home to visit her family. Normally, I would not have left Andy and Emily to be gone for a month but after prayerful consideration, God cleared the way for this special experience for me. At that time in my life, I had several Korean-American friends with whom I was quite comfortable. I could understand and speak a limited amount of Korean and was able to attend church services with them and interact in the wider Korean-American community of our small city in upstate New York with relative ease.

But staying with my friend, Jin Hee, and her working class family far from any foreign influence in Seoul was a different experience. These people, gracious as they were, were not at all Korean-American. They were fully Korean in language and culture. Jin Hee was the only one in the family who spoke English and while she was Korean-American back home in the States, with her family and in their home, she became much more Korean.

Meanwhile, I became a bit of a tourist attraction all on my own. Traditional Korean homes do not allow for a lot of individual privacy and everything about me was quite interesting to the family and even to the neighborhood. This group of people had gathered their knowledge of Americans from Hollywood movies and television shows and I didn't quite fit their image of what I might be like. At that time, my hair was much darker and that I was not blonde was a point of interest to them. My face was inspected at very close range on multiple occasions, a disconcerting experience, I must say.

This was in the pre-cell phone days and about half-way through my stay, I spoke to Andy and Emily on the family's phone. The fact that I cried when I heard the voices of my family was exclaimed over and mentioned many times. They did not expect that an American woman would miss her family like that! To tell the truth, this was a turning point in my relationship with these people. It was clear that my tears and emotion helped bridge the differences between us and allowed them to see our shared humanity beneath the layers of culture.

But still, in so many ways, I was the outsider. And I was so homesick! We visited the DMZ at one point and speaking to a young American soldier there, a person with whom I would have had so little in common were we both back home, was a wonderful and so welcome experience for me!

I never had such a strong sense of my American-ness as I did when I was in Korea. I never saw my country so strongly as home as I did when I was in Korea. And I never missed my family, my sense of being home when I was with them, as much as I did when I was in Korea. I do, with deep gratitude, thank God for the experiences I had on that trip; most of all the knowledge of His continuous presence and provision for me during my time in Korea. The joy that I felt upon returning to my home, to my family here in my country is only a glimpse of the joy I'll feel when I finally go home to Him.

View other home-themed posts at Rebecca Writes.

Counted Cross Stitch

This simple sentiment perfectly expresses my "homely" thoughts.

Join in Rebecca's theme of Home for the month of September.

O Happy Home

Here's a hymn which I've never sung, never even heard (except for the midi file) but I love the sentiments expressed in it. And it fits Rebecca's September theme of home!

O happy home, where thou art loved the dearest,
Thou loving Friend and Saviour of our race,
And where among the guests there never cometh
One who can hold such high and honored place!

O happy home, where two in heart united
In holy faith and blessed hope are one,
Whom death a little while alone divideth,
And cannot end the union here begun!

O happy home, whose little ones are given
Early to thee in humble faith and prayer,
To thee, their friend, who from the heights of heaven
Guides them, and guards with more than mother's care!

O happy home, where each one serves thee, lowly,
Whatever his appointed work may be,
Till ev'ry common task seems great and holy,
When it is done, O Lord, as unto thee!

O happy home, where thou art not forgotten
When joy is overflowing, full and free,
O happy home, where ev'ry wounded spirit
Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to thee,—

Until at last, when earth's day's work is ended,
All meet thee in the blessed home above,
From whence thou camest, where thou hast ascended,
Thine everlasting home of peace and love.

Carl J. P. Spitta, 1826
Tune: Welwyn, Alfred Scott-Gatty, 1902

Home on the Range

I love those theme related posts of Rebecca's and she's just started a new one on the topic of "Home." Here's what she says about it:

I’m inviting you to join me. Just put up a blog post connected to the topic of home..... Poems, photos, lists, stories, you-name-it, it’s all welcome. Every Tuesday and Friday for the rest of September, I’ll post a collection of the submitted home related posts.

And for my first contribution, I'm submitting this video: